A Royal Pain
by Lady-Wyld
Summary: My take on the story of the Dancing Princesses
1. Chapter 1

Twelve pairs of worn out shoes. Shoes that only hours before glittered with gems and embroidery. Soft soled dancing shoes, the only type of shoes they would ever deign to wear. Now this wouldn't be so odd, as the wearers _were_ princesses, and after all, with the royal balls, and endless visitors to court, worn out shoes were bound to happen sooner or later. Just not every day; or in this case, night.

The King scratched his head... He just couldn't figure it out... he personally had locked his daughters in their room this time... How the devil did they manage to wear their shoes out? Their living quarters weren't big enough to give 12 energetic young girls the space needed to wear out their shoes in so few hours. They couldn't be that spiteful, could they? Nah...He just couldn't understand it... and his children were not saying a word on the subject besides "Father, we need new shoes."

The King jumped up from his throne, where he had been perched since early that morning, when his Head Councilor, Yohan ad informed him once more of the ever-perplexing mystery of the shoes... thinking back to when this all had started, three long weeks ago...

At first the King had not been informed, after all, shoes were shoes...and not of much importance in the big picture. After a whole week, a chambermaid mentioned it to a cook, who passed it on to a server, who whispered it to a valet, who told the Head Councillor. Yohan then decided he better look for himself...The very next morning...he tip-toed to their chamber, and there lined up neatly outside the door were twelve thoroughly worn out pairs of dancing shoes..."interesting"...the man thought to himself, rubbing his chin in deep thought.. "How can I turn this to my advantage?"...By the time the Head Councillor had determined how to make this odd nightly occurence work in his favor, the second week had flown by, and the Chancellor of the Exchequer began to cast dirty looks in the Princesses general direction.. for their allowance had been awfully large of late...with no explanation what so ever... Yohan chose the time to tell the King carefully.. he needed a neutral time... where all the Princesses and the King would be present... and yet, a time where they would not be alone... The King would _have_ to ask why the shoes were always worn out... and try to do something about it... If the Yohan came up with a way to stop the shoes from being worn out...or even if he discovered _how_ they were getting so worn out, perhaps the King would reward him handsomely..."Hmm...What to do, what to do... That's it! The banquet dinner, tomorrow night...that will do nicely."

The night of the banquet dinner, the Head Councillor made sure to seat himself as near to the King as he could. The King and his bevy of daughters were talking and laughing amongst themselves, as the servers brought in the first course of the meal...

The Head Councillor cleared his throat.. "a-hem"... No one looked... So he cleared it a bit louder.. "A-Hem"... The King without looking up from his plate, sighed, and asked "What now, Yohan?"

"Sire, it has come to my attention that your lovely daughters have somehow been wearing out approximately 7 pairs of shoes per princess, per week.

"Yohan, thats preposterous...thats a pair of shoes every day. How is that even possible? "

"I know nothing, sire... except that every morning, twelve pairs of thoroughly worn shoes are lined up neatly outside the Princesses Quarters.

The King paused for a moment, then slowly turned to face his twelve children. He spoke to the eldest first. " Aglaia, my child, perhaps you can clear up this perplexing puzzle?

"Father, I know naught of how our shoes become so worn in the night..Sisters, have you any knowledge of how our shoes fall into such a state?"

One by one the sisters murmured or shook their head in dissent. When they finally got to the youngest of them all, Xanthe, she piped up... "Perhaps the little people take them and run about? You know, fairies and such?"

The whole court burst into laughter..

After the court began to quiet, the King chuckling, said "Since my daughters themselves seem to not know the cause of this mysterious happening, we shall set a guard at the door. We will find out what is going on within the bedchamber to cause such wear to the slippers. After all, 'tis not the slippers I care about but my children's safety. If they are running about and not sleeping, I'd like to know of it. Though, 'twould please the Chancellor of the Exchequer truth be told.. those flimsy little pieces of kidskin and silk are dear...

The King woke from his reverie.. What to do, what to do? Obviously, posting a guard hadn't worked... the children never left the room.. and still the slippers came out worn the next morning. Locking the door hadn't helped. Placing a maid within the room had done no good. No matter what she had done, she could not seem to stay awake.. and again, the slippers were

tattered fragments of the beautiful shoes they had once been. He paced back and forth in front of a large bay window pondering his dilemma..however woud he get this mystery solved if everyone placed to watch the Princesses either fell asleep or instead they didn't hear or see anything amiss.

As the King was wondering alone in his throne room, in the council chambers directly below, his Head Councillor and other council members were having a secret meeting without him... Yohan being the Head Councillor was first to speak. He asked the gathering, "Whatever shall we do to get the mystery of the shoes solved? What the Princesses are doing is of national importance.. they could be in grave danger." The council members gasped in alarm at this statement.. Yohan smirked.. now that he had them sufficiently alarmed, he had them right where he wanted them. I have a suggestion, Have the King let it be known that there is to be a contest, that the Princesses are playing a "game", and who ever discovers the whole truth of this intrigue, where they go, or why the slippers become worn, shall win the hand of the daughter of their choice, in marriage, plus, half the kingdom now, and inherit the rest on the King's death. I think tis fair since the King has no male heir. Twill be no fighting over a throne, and will end the mystery. The council members squabbled amongst themselves for a few moments, but since no other plans were forthcoming, Yohan's suggestion was agreed upon. They decided to go en masse to the throne room and propose it to the King.


	2. Chapter 2

The King sat dejectedly in his throne, worn out by his thinking, having found no good solution to his dire straits. Yohan and the troop of councillors paused in the foyer to the room slightly taken aback at his appearance.. Yohan strode into the room with the confidence that he truly didn't feel. The other councillors seemed to melt into a huddle in the back of the room, a faceless blur, so if the king was displeased, no one face besides Yohan's would take the blame. Of course, that blur would quickly dissipate and once more become recognizable people if the king liked the idea. The hypocrisy of politics. Yohan quickly spelled out his plan. The King agreed on all points... except for one.

" What is the amount of time you are giving these so called "adventurers" to solve the puzzle? An hour? A day? A week? A bloody year?" Becoming increasingly frustrated with the situation, the King had finally lost patience with his lackeys. "I shall set the time limits. 3 days, and 3 nights, the quester shall labor over our mystery. If they have come up with no answer, no clues, not even a hint of a plausible reason, then my court magician shall turn them into statuary for the maze. I fancy they might make quite good conversation pieces. There they will remain, until the mystery is solved.

Yohan, quite taken aback by the King's additions to his plan, none-the-less agreed. He would let a few of his servants go first, a few stupid ones, then he himself might try. After all, the plan had no restrictions on "who" could try. He was sure a smart, cunning man like himself could find out what was going on in a matter of minutes, not days!

The royal proclamation was sent throughout the kingdom, to each town and village. Within a matter of weeks, it had traveled even farther than expected, reaching the next kingdom over. Rumors of the absurd tale soon reached the palace. An actual copy of the proclamation was sent directly to the palace and fell into the hands of the Queen. Queen Deirdra read the proclamation, a smile lighting her beautiful face. She sent for her steward. After a few moments of waiting he appeared. "Yes my Queen?" "Oh, Everett don't be such a stuffed shirt! Please fetch my brothers from their quarters.. I have a feeling they need to see this" as she waved the parchment around excitedly.

The Queen sat herself down to re-read the parchment, knowing how long it would take to reach the wing in which her brother's were housed, and how long it would take to corral all of them and persuade them to come up to her chamber. After about 15 minutes the first sounds of what seemed to be a herd of rampaging horses was coming up the stairs. Most women would have been frightened. Not so with the Queen; for of course she knew it was just her 12 unruly brothers.

The ruckus quieted down outside her door as Everett gave them a stern admonishment to behave themselves, to recall that their sister was a Queen, and was carrying the heir, for all that is holy! Deirdra bit her cheek to keep from laughing out loud. She had tp remember that one for later.

One by one, her brothers filed in through her chamber door. Each brother tall, dark, handsome... and to Deirdra's constant vexation... unmarried.

The last brother in was Callum, the youngest. He gave Deirdra a sheepish smile and shrugged as if to apologize for his brothers that had entered before him. Deirdra motioned them all to various seats though some ended up seating themselves on the carpeted floor, which was still rather comfortable.

She cleared her throat, and started to tell them of the proclamation.. In the end they all wanted to read it themselves. After what seemed like forever, the last brother had finished reading and all knew what the parchment contained. For once, all were silent with out being forced to do so. Deirdra startled them out of their reverie by saying "Don't you see? This is how you will regain your birthrights that our father stole from us all?" We may never be able to regain what we truly lost, our mother, our home, our kingdom... but s'truth, do you really want that kingdom when you might be able to rule this one?"

Baeddan, the eldest, slowly shook his head at Deirdra, "Dearest, we all lost what you speak of, tis true. But the 12 of us", pointing at himself and his brothers" lost a wee bit more. We lost our humanity for seven whole years. Such a thing, 'tis hard on a man. Recall once more the cottage in the forest in which we lived... Remember the lovely enchanted flowers which your hands picked, 12 of them, mind you; no more no less, that turned us into naught but crowing, cawing ravens. Now, Now there, don't cry.. this is not your fault, let me explain.. The woman in the woods, the one who told you about staying completely silent for seven years to save our souls.. She was the enchantress paid by father to keep us in the forest and to lure you to the flowers.. He wanted us dead, and he did not care how. Of course, he did not figure on the enchantress feeling remorseful or you having such strength of will. Now, much water has passed under the bridge, and we are happy with our lot in life and you, our fair sister will soon make us all uncles.

The brothers all brightened visibly at his last statement, nodding and smiling.. Deirdra sighed. "Don't you all want families, a hearth and home to call your own?" A few of them went red..and ducked their heads.. "Keir? Daire?" Keir mumbled something under his breath... Diardra smiled "What was that, I didn't quite catch it..." Keir pulled his head from under the pillow where Daire had commenced to shove it, and gasped "I said most women are a bit leery of men who have been enchanted ravens... or any sort of enchanted anything. Seems they think we'll magically disappear...though Crevan does seem to have that reputation." At that the brothers laughed riotously, Crevan threatening dire consequences and revenge on Keir and his various body parts.

Deirdra sighed. She had a lot of work to do. "Don't you see.. these princesses are likely under an enchantment of their own, you brainless brothers of mine... She ducked a flying pillow that was meant for one of the twins and waded into the fray. The brothers parted as if they were waves, treating their sister as if she was a glass goblet. She sat in the midst of them all.. and began explaining her thoughts on the matter. After a long discussion, the 12 trouped downstairs to begin packing for the journey to their adventure to save the neighboring kingdom's daughters...or at least their shoe's.


End file.
